An ordinary man engages the circumstances of daily life, seeking to draw closer to the Mystery who gives meaning to everything.

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Real Prayer is Always Possible

In difficult times, in suffering, anxiety or depression, pain, exhaustion, frustration, in the midst of all our afflictions and our cares, we can still pray. Even when conventional means fail us, we can always turn to God and let our souls thirst for Him. We can let the Holy Spirit probe the deep and otherwise inaccessible places in our lives.

Never give up on prayer!

Real prayer is always possible, even when it feels impossible (maybe even especially when it feels that way). Jesus is close to our suffering, very close. He hears the anguish, the weakness, the wordless cries of our begging hearts.

When everything else is overwhelming, let us not underestimate the simple prayers. The name of Jesus is a prayer. "Jesus." It is enough sometimes. "Mary." Or the beautiful invocation, "Veni Sancte Spiritus, Veni per Mariam." Or the Memorare. Or Mother Teresa's prayer: "Mother of Jesus, be a mother to me now!" Simple words, if nothing else to bring our pain before God in a gesture. It may feel like nothing but He uses it.

What does God need to feed us? It is enough to open our inner "mouths". He works, really, absolutely, but in His time and in His way... which we don't understand but which we know by faith is the way that really corresponds to our particular persons, to who each of us really is, and to the unique shape of our hearts. He is with each of us on our particular journey.

It's good to remember that the radical need for truth, goodness, beauty, justice, and love -- the religious sense -- is common to every human heart, but it is also particularized in a unique, unrepeatable, beautiful "constellation" in the lives of each of us as human persons. Jesus knows each one of us as persons. Mary knows each one of us as persons.

Each of us is a person. Each of us is loved and called by God. Each of us is worthy of love, no matter what....

love

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Never Give Up

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About Me

John Janaro is Associate Professor Emeritus of Theology at Christendom College. He is a Catholic theologian, and a writer, researcher, and lecturer on issues in religion and culture. His most recent book is NEVER GIVE UP: MY LIFE AND GOD'S MERCY. He is married to
Eileen Janaro and has five children.

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